Читать книгу Volition - Coby Stewart - Страница 9

The Big Game

I pulled out my phone to text Black.

…WYA…

About seven minutes had gone by and I had not received a response. I pulled out my phone and called him. Still no response.

I wasn’t the type to worry, but this situation wasn’t sitting well with me in my gut. I called his phone again with no response.

“Dog, fuck! What the fuck!” I yelled out.

Black kept a .45 on him, so I doubt Duffy would have tried him. But ’round my way, anything is possible.

Then immediately I got a text, but it was from Mom.

…HI SON I’LL BE RUNNING A LITTLE LATE FOR YOUR GAME, BUT I’LL GET THERE AS SOON AS I CAN.

HAVE FAITH AND HAVE FUN. I LOVE YOU SON…

After reading the text, I felt anxious and confused, so I did something I hardly ever did. I prayed for Black in the hopes that all was well. Then I picked up my phone and called Cash.

“What up li’l bro.”

“Bruh, you heard from Black.”

“Naw, wassup.”

“I can’t get a hold of him, man. He left the school with Duffy.”

“Duffy… I just seen that man.”

“Which one?”

Cash spoke to who I figured was Fatz or somebody.

“Yeah, stay at school, brother. We out.”

Cash hung up the phone, and all I could do was grab my gym bag and walk to the locker room. Everything inside me had me ready to pull up in front of Duffy’s house. A few minutes later, I got another text but from Camille.

BALL OUT BABY GOOD LUCK 

Soon after, Coach Lewis called me into his office to talk about the game. That was the last thing on my mind right about now. Coach Lewis was a good coach. He was hard on us, and he took care of his players like his own sons.

“Where your mind at, Rick?” he asked me.

“I’m ready,” I said, scratching my shoulder.

“You look distracted,” said Coach Lewis, staring at me with his head tilted as if he were looking through me for a moment.

“Naw, I’m good. Just trying focus right now,” I replied.

“I hear that, but you quiet in here son. I need you to bring that energy, Hype,” he said.

“I got you, Coach!” I said before I walked out his office.

I checked my phone. Still nothing. My teammate, JB, tapped me to get my attention.

“Where Black at, moe?” he asked.

“I don’t know, son. I been trying to call his phone since we got out of school.”

“Ain’t ya blood brothers? Call him telepathically,” said JB.

“Telepathically,” I said, squinting. JB busted out laughing. “You silly son,” I said, shaking my head. “This ain’t no joke, bruh. Black’s missing!” I said.

“Say what!” JB said.

“Bruh, out there looking for him now,” I said.

“Man, what the fuck happened? Where he go?” said JB.

I shook my head and checked my phone again.

“Young!” JB said as he stood up.

“Bruh, just focus on the game, man. You know what I’m saying,” I said.

“Man,” JB said, scratching his chest.

He walked off to the bathroom, and soon after, Coach Lewis flung his door open.

“Guys, where is Lenny at?” he yelled.

“Lenny (a.k.a. Black) ain’t here!” yelled one of my teammates.

“Well, where in the hell’s he at? We’re leaving in ten minutes,” said Coach Lewis.

“Ain’t nobody seen him,” said Phil.

“Rick, do you know?” Coach asked me.

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

Coach Lewis paused then he closed his door shut. Everyone looked confused, but none was as shook up as me about Black’s absence. I was the last person to see him, and I was starting to feel like it was partly my fault that he was missing. I guess guilt was the only solution I could come up with.

I checked my phone again and still nothing. I guess Cash still didn’t find Cook yet. It’s one thing that my right-hand man is missing, but on top of that, our team’s best shooter is gone too. I tried to think that maybe I’m overreacting. But no, where else would he be right now but right here?

I hit up Duffy, but his phone was off.

“Aight fellas, load up. The bus is here,” said Coach Lewis. “Lenny’s still not here?” he asked, looking at me. I just turned my head to the side in disbelief. “Aight. Well, we got to go. Just keep your phones on while we’re on the bus in case he calls.”

A few of my teammates laughed at what Coach Lewis just said. Even though Coach Lewis says not to bring our phones, we would always keep our phones on anyway. We would just leave them on vibrate.

“What’s so funny?” asked Coach Lewis. “I want to laugh. Enlighten me,” he said with his hands on his chest. “I don’t see anything funny considering we’re about to leave for a big game against a team that beat us last year and one of our players is missing. I’m struggling to find the joke here,” said Coach Lewis.

Coach stared at us all for a long while with a crazy look on his face.

“Get on the bus,” he finally said.

We all grabbed our gym bags and stepped out to the bus. I cut some music on, but even with ABM cranking through my headphones, I couldn’t stop wondering what happened to Black. Did he crash? Naw! Man, I don’t know. This shit got my head all twisted up. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I prayed again. Eventually, we pulled into Forestville High School’s parking lot.

“Let’s go, bay-bee!” Phil yelled as he popped up from his seat.

I tried to call Black’s phone one more time. Nothing. I threw my phone in my bag and walked off the bus. We made our entrance and sat in the stands to watch the first half of the JV game. Slowly but surely, I could see scouts pouring into the gym.

Phil nudged me, “Young, that’s a UConn scout right there! That look like Coach Calhoun,” he said.

Later, I noticed my cousin BJ walking up the bleachers toward me.

“What’s good, Hype?” BJ said, smiling and showing me love.

“What’s up, cuzzo,” I said as we showed each other love. “Ya ready to get ya ass bust in front of all these fans?” I said.

“We not going like that. This my house. I’m dropping 50,” he said.

“Damn, you feeling like that. What you think, you Kobe or somebody!” I said.

“Aye, we ballers,” he said before laughing.

“So if you Kobe, then who am I?” I said.

“Kendrick Lamar,” he said. I busted out laughing. I took a quick peep at the gym.

“I’ll see you at tip-off,” he said before we pounded fist and he trotted back down the bleachers.

I sat back down and watched the rest of the first half with my teammates. Once halftime came, we all got up and walked to the locker room. I sat down and pulled my phone out to check for any word on Black. I didn’t have any text messages, missed calls, or anything. I then felt something like a hole in my stomach.

I put my phone away, cut on my iPod, and sat back and closed my eyes. When Coach Lewis walked into the locker room, I could see the fire in his eyes. I started tying up my LeBrons after he said a prayer. Then he started his speech. Normally, he would just give us the game plan and a few words for motivation, but this game was different. I felt my heart thumping like crazy!

“When a family gets together, there’s no stopping us! We family!”

While leaving the locker room, I could feel Black’s absence. Instantly, I felt that empty feeling in my stomach again.

Get your mind right, cuz, my conscience told me, which is what Black would say to keep me focused. I took a long deep breath.

Inhale…

Let’s go…

Then I ran out to the court into a heat raised packed gym. With all the hype between BJ and me, I guess everyone wanted to see this rematch. I dropped 27 on them last year. He only had 19, but they won 68–64.

Guess Imma a have to drop 32 this time, I thought to myself.

Phil, Pete, and Tonio walked up to me during shoot a round.

“Look at this fucking crowd!” said Tonio.

“This shit live in here, ain’t it,” I said.

“Hell yeah,” said Phil.

“Keep ya minds right, man. Let the crowd do them. Our game’s right here on this court!” I said.

“Uh-huh!” the three of them said as we pounded fists. Coach Lewis called us over to the sidelines before tip-off. After coach finished talking, I called the break.

“We balling for Black! Put it all on the line right here for him! He wouldn’t want nothing else! We family! Heart on three, fellas! One, two, three, HEART!”

The announcer called out the starters. When they called Tonio as the starting point guard instead of Black, I felt that cold feeling again, but I had too much adrenaline flowing to spiral backwards.

“LET’S GO!” Pete yelled out, breaking me from my zone. We stepped out onto the court. I nodded my head at BJ from the other side of the circle. The ref blew his whistle and tossed the ball in the air.

“Showtime!”

We got the ball first. I came down the court and kicked the ball down low to Pete. He drop stepped and laid it in for our first bucket.

“Good shit,” I said, pounding fist with him going back down the court.

“2–0!”

They came back down the court and worked the ball around until BJ finally got the ball and knocked down a three from the wing. He backpedaled back down the court, clapping his hands in front of me.

Tonio brought the ball up the court and kicked it out to me on the wing. I called for an iso once BJ came over to check me. I dribbled left and then crossed back over and drove past him. Then when their big man stepped up to stop me, I passed the ball behind my back to Pete again, who caught the ball and banged it on one of them. I thought the refs would’ve called a foul, but fuck it. The score was now 4–3. We up. I hit BJ with the same clap he gave me as I went back down the court.

Our teams went at it, back and forth, back and forth. Halfway through the second quarter, I saw my mom and Camille walk in together. Seeing them gave me a nice little energy boost which was much needed in this game. With three seconds left in the second quarter, we inbounded the ball, and I hit a three to take us into halftime, down 44–40. Tonio and I jumped up and chest bumped as we headed to the locker room.

“Ya some shit,” one of the Forestville players said, running past us.

“Imma dog you,” Phil said.

Coach Lewis grabbed Phil. “Come on ya. No time for that. In the locker room!” said Coach Lewis.

We separated and headed back to our locker room. Coach was giving us heads-ups and more motivation in the locker room. I looked around the room, and I could tell that the whole team was in one accord with each other. Every single one of us had that anxious look of desire on our faces. I couldn’t help but feel like this was our game. I clenched my chest and dropped my head slightly, feeling Black’s absence again. I took the Gatorade bottle and poured some on the back of my neck.

“Everything happens for a reason, fellas!” were the last words I heard before we walked back in to the gym floor.

When we got out to the gym, I saw Cash talking to BJ at the other end of the court. Manny, Crack, Fatz, and Twan were standing off to the side of the bleachers. I looked around, but I didn’t see Black. The crew all showed love. Cash hugged BJ, and then he ran over to me, dapped me, and gave me a hug.

“Where Black at?” I asked immediately.

“He aight. We found him. I’ll tell you everything after the game,” said Cash.

“Bruh, he hit?” I yelled.

“He got roughed up a li’l. He good tho. We gonna handle that! Yea! You focus on this game right now. That’s all you need to focus on. Black is good now,” Cash said.

“Darren, I need you off the court!” yelled Coach Lewis.

“It’s your show now, li’l bruh. Make it count!” Cash said with his arms spread out. Then he headed off the court. Cash telling me that Black is alive gave me such a relief. I sat on the bench and drank some water and gathered myself together to take this game over.

Immediately, from the first inbound, we continued playing them tough, and they kept fighting us just as tough.

“This that type shit I like,” said one of my teammates in the huddle during a time-out. We came back out with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter. We were still down 68–71, and BJ was shooting the lights out with thirty-five points so far. I had only twenty-one, but I was definitely playing my game out there.

They brought the ball up the court. When they crossed half-court, I caught their shooting guard Reese dribbling the ball with no regard to the defense as he waited to hear his coach’s directions, so I plucked him and took off down the court with the ball. I got to the rim and cocked my arm to the side, dunking the ball like LeBron James. The crowd lost it after that!

70–71. Let’s go!

Both of us struggled to score for a bit after that up until Phil got a tough and one bucket with forty-two seconds left on the clock. He made the next free throws, putting us up two points. BJ grunted with this being the first time we had the lead since the first quarter. BJ came back down the court and got fouled. He made both of his free throws, tying the score at 73 with 0:34 seconds left.

Coach Lewis called a time-out. He told us to run Milwaukee to me. Milwaukee is a swing play that almost always leaves me open for a jumper on the wing. I set up on the right so that I can get the ball on the left side of the court, right in my sweet spot. Tonio dribbled the ball for a little bit to run some time off the clock then he set up and called the play. I got the ball, kicked it back to Tonio, and took off to get around the pick. JB picked off Reese hard, making him fall flat on his back. I got the ball on the three-point line with nobody around me and pulled the shot.

“Whooooop!” the crowd went.

Swop! All net!

The crowd went off again. I held my fist up like a gun aiming it at the rim and squeezed the trigger at the rim before I headed back down the court. Forestville called another time-out. I looked at the scoreboard to see that we were up 76–73 with 0:18 seconds left in the game. We walked back out to the court. The tension in the air was so thick it was almost surreal. BJ quickly brought the ball up the court and tried to make a play, but ended up turning the ball over. I scooped it up and took off down court. They tried to foul me, but they couldn’t catch me until I got to the bucket to get the and one. I threw my fist to beat my chest after the bucket.

“It’s a wrap!” I yelled out.

I shot the free throw and made it, making the score 79–73 and only 0:03 seconds left. BJ made a half-court hail to make the score 79–76 at the buzzer, but it didn’t matter.

We all celebrated under the rim!

BJ walked up and showed me love.

“Good game, cuzzo!” he said.

“Keep that shit up!” I said as I pounded his chest. He then walked off to the locker room.

“I love this shit!” Phil yelled out, throwing his half sleeve in the air. I hopped over toward my teammates still celebrating. After that, I walked into the locker room to get dressed.

When I came back out onto the gym floor, Mom, Camille, Cash, and everybody else came up to me to show me love.

“Good game, baby boy,” said Mom.

“Yes, good game,” Camille said, snuggling under my arm. She held onto me tightly as Cash approached me next.

“That’s what I’m talking ’bout, shorty. That’s how you work,” said Cash.

“Uh-huh,” everyone else said. Everyone’s words made me feel good.

“Hi, Darren,” Mom said with a sour face, “or do I got to call you Cash too?”

“Hello to you, too, Mom. How have you been?” said Cash.

“I’ve been just fine. Thank you. Now leave me to talk to my son, please,” said Mom.

“Why! Mom, why you gotta tell the man to leave!” I said.

“I love you, too, Mom. Good game, shorty,” said Cash.

Then he turned and left out with Manny and all the rest of the crew. I felt bad for Cash as I watched him walk away. The conversation he just had with Mom made me realize what he was saying to me earlier that day. I looked over at Mom.

“Mom, why’d you have to say that?” I asked with my hands up.

“Look, Darren or Cash ain’t nobody you need to be around. He’s going to get you in trouble,” she said.

“Mom, that’s my brother, and he’s still your son,” I said.

“Rick, I won’t let you do this. You not gonna turn out like him,” she said.

I stared at my mother as she shook her head and then gave me a double take.

“Okay, I love you son,” she said as she reached and held me under my chin.